What's on your (PHOTO FRIDAY) Menu, RNYers?

You must have been so panicked after that txt from Em! Remember our QOTD about doing dangerous things as a kid? That is something we never even imagined as kids, nor did I with my children. It is such a scary world now - that could really happen anywhere. It was a good drill for the school though.

I was in Costco when I got her text. And, it was alarming since our mom tribe started a group text and there was so many rumors from all sides of what was happening. I wanted to head straight to the school but I know that causes additional chaos and can impede the efforts to keep everyone safe.

Glad that everyone was ok!

OMG Too Cute

Awesome gift Kelly!

Morning! Jon made 7am dentist appointments for the kids so it was super fun getting them up at 5:15am to make sure they made it there on time. But, I'm now getting my 2nd cup of coffee at home on my couch instead of in the car to take kids to school, so I'll take it!

QOTD: I'm a bargain shopper for 99% of things. I'd love to do Aldi shopping all the time but the nearest one is far enough away and on the other side of some major traffic. For the month of January we opted to try out only doing delivery for our groceries to see how we fared on cost compared to going to the grocery store. We started out the month trying Shipt which (here) will deliver Harris Teeter, Lowe's (a grocery store), Target, and CVS. For the second half of the month we tried out Wal-mart grocery delivery. Walmart came in a lot cheaper and they also were always on time with delivery. So, as much as I hate Wal-mart we'll go with them. Over all we came in about $50 below our average grocery budget and that was with tipping. I think we're going to stick with weekly delivery and patch it the very few items that we must have from other stores. Jon has a yogurt from Harris Teeter that he prefers, but that's pretty much it.

My Food:

• English Muffin, Bacon, Egg, Cheese
• Deli Turkey, Cheese, and Cucumber
• Rosemary Chicken Thighs and Veggies (a bite or two of the homemade Mac & Cheese I made last night)

I tried Walmart and they certainly were cheap and on time, but there were a fair number of mistakes in each order. Things were forgotten, and a few times they made substitutions that were really not okay with me (sending me cherry tomatoes that I am allergic to, instead of the cut veggies I asked for, for example). And since I have moral objections to them, too, I am oping out now that the free trial ended. Trying Target this weekend and hoping for a better outcome.

So, with Shipt (which is what Target uses, at least here) we really liked that you could make special requests on each item. For instance: "Please give me 5 ripe and 5 green bananas" and there's a free form area too where if there's something you can't find listed you can ask them to look for it. They also text you while shopping to verify it's okay. One thing I found was that meat purchases are interesting without that since when you order a Boston Butt it could be 3.5 - 7.5lbs and that's a big price difference. However, they showed up late 2 of the 3 times we ordered with them. Given my work schedule I was having them deliver from 7-8pm and both times they showed up AFTER 9:30. When my trial ended I contacted Shipt to say I didn't want to continue and they gave me a 2 month extension because of those issues so we'll give them another try over the next 2 months. Oh also, they mark up the price of their items by quite a bit. They say you can plan on paying about an evtra $1 for each $5 spent on an order.

With Wal-mart they've always showed up on time and only once were the items missing. We had a delivery driver miss a bag I think. They refunded the items without any questions asked but it was annoying not to have the things we needed. I also don't like the substitution but you can opt to say no substitutions for specific items and at least you pay the lowest price between anything they substitute with. I don't like that you can leave notes on specific items though.

We did ultimately spend a large percentage less from Wal-mart and I don't love Target as a corporation any more than them. Frankly, none of them are amazing as companies and there's no way we can afford to shop local co-ops!

Around here, we have either the 2 day option for Shipt, or same day grocery delivery. I was opting for the same day just because it's easier but it's nice to know that Shipt might be a better option if the orders are incorrect.

Check to see our Aldi has instacart that I used after surgery and it was good they did sub Strawberry for blueberry but I thinK there is an option to (DO NOT SUB) IT WAS SAME DAY AND ON TIME.